Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report :

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1) Summary of Decision Area:

1.1. It is proposed that Hampshire Children's Services purchases software in order for it to extract data from schools' management information systems and transfer it back to the core (Winchester).

1.2. The costs of this purchase, and associated project, will be met from within existing budgets.

1.3. This decision is being presented to the Chair in the event that spending on this software exceeds £100,000 over 4 years.

2) Issues Covered in Report:

2.1. Background to the project

2.2. The benefits of up to date data from schools

2.3. Reasons for investing in this software

2.4. Financial Implications

3) Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

3.1. Purchase of this software is approved.

MAIN REPORT

1) Contextual Information:

1.1. Currently data is collected from Hampshire schools on a termly basis in the form of a DCSF Census. This data is sent to the DCSF (via the local authority) and the Systems Team load it into our central system, called IMPULSE

1.2. All Hampshire schools use a "Management Information System (MIS)" to track their pupils (soon to be staff as well). This contains details of attendance, achievements, exclusions etc.

2) Key Issues:

2.1. The key problem with the current situation is that pupil data within the Local Authority is always, at least, a term out of date.

2.2. Tracking vulnerable children (including those missing education) is extremely difficult with such out of date data - we need an improved frequency of data in order to assist us in this task.

2.3. There is considerable "additional effort" being undertaken with the department because of the lack of up to date data. For example, teams build their own small databases to collect their own "bits" of data; more work is required on the data sets as they become more out of date in order to use them effectively.

2.4. The government is currently exploring the concept of "real time reporting" - e.g. the Local Authority or parents being able to look up at any point in time where the child is. Whilst this is still aspirational, this project will contribute to bringing us closer to being able to do this.

3) Potential Solution:

3.1. In order to try and improve the amount of up to date data the Local Authority holds on Hampshire's children, we are keen to regularly feed data from the schools' management information systems into our IMPULSE system.

3.2. Given the current set of systems there is no "off the shelf" product that will do the whole process for us. As a result, we have initiated a project to build a process that will collect data regularly from schools.

3.3. 2 key parts of the process are a) to extract the data from the schools' MIS and b) transfer it to the local authority. We do not currently have any software that will do this for us.

3.4. In order for the project to work we will also need to clean the data and import it into IMPULSE. However, we already have software in place that we can use to do these tasks.

4) Options:

4.1. There are 4 options when looking at the requirement to extract and transfer this data:

a) Continue With The Status Quo - We could continue to collect data from schools via the termly census. However, this would do nothing to address any of the problems described.

b) Design and Build Something Ourselves - We could write this software ourselves, however, this would be extremely expensive to develop and would also cost a significant amount to support.

c) Invest in an Alternate Central System - We could change the central system we currently use (IMPULSE) to one that links more direction with the vast majority of schools' MISs. However, the estimated cost of this change is between £3m and £5m.

d) Invest in a Piece Of Off the Shelf Software - This is likely to be the most cost effective solution in terms of purchase price, solution development, implementation and on going costs.

5) Financial Implications:

5.1. The cost of this software will be met from within existing budgets.

5.2. Approval is being sought in the event that spending exceeds £100,000 over 4 years which, should the software be successful, is likely.

5.3. We are confident that spending will not exceed £144,459 over 4 years and, on that basis, have approval from Legal Services to procure the software via a "mini competition".

6) Conclusions:

6.1. In order for us to achieve our desired outcome, investing in a piece of software to extract and transfer data for us is the cost effective and sensible solution.

7) Recommendations:

The following decision is proposed:

1.1. That Hampshire Children's Services purchases software in order for it to extract data from schools' management information systems and transfer it back to the core (Winchester).

1.2. The costs of this purchase, and associated project, will be met from within existing budgets.

1.3. Executive Member approval is being sought in the event that spending on this software exceeds £100,000 over 4 years.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

a) We have reviewed the potential impact on equalities from the purchase of this software and consider it to be negligible.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

a) We have reviewed the potential impact on crime and disorder from the purchase of this software and consider it to be negligible.

3. Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

· Given the behind the scenes nature of the software and the fact that it will be running on systems already in place we consider that the impact on our energy consumption will be nil.

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

· The purchase of this software is aligned strategically to the Transforming Through Technology strategy, in terms of making use of existing infrastructure to develop new applications.